Want A Download With That?

By the Betanews Staff | Published October 11, 2006, 4:59 PM

McDonald's joined the digital content revolution Wednesday as it began beta testing m-Venue, its digital media content service. At select locations, users would be able to browse and download music from several labels, including Sony BMG and Universal via a Wi-Fi connection. The first restaurant to offer the service would be in Schaumberg, Ill., about 20 miles from Chicago.

The company has equipped the resturant with wireless Internet, and has added widescreen displays that would promote the service and its content, as well as allowing users to send text messages to be displayed on the screen. According to McDonald's, food sales have increased 17 percent since the service was introduced.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

What's all this about "fat" and "obese"?

For the record, I am an American and I see very few people I would consider overly obese, considering the claims the 50% of Americans are so.

Also McDonald's doesn't make you fat. It's irresponsible eating (although sadly some people simply have always have trouble with their weight... we all have our own medical problems to deal with).

The guy who did "Supersize Me"... now I never actually watched it, but according to Wikipedia, this guy ate ONLY McDonald's, and stopped exercising. Now this strikes me as a stupid and inevitable thing to do. If you eat fast food three times a day, every day, you are GOING to end up with problems. You don't need a documentary to tell you that.

Now, if you only have it once or twice a week like I do, you're not going to see effects like that, especially the better your overall diet is.

Whenever I go into McDonald's I see plenty of people who aren't fat (IE most, if not all, of them).

Score: 0

|

I am an American and I see very few people I would consider overly obese, considering the claims the 50% of Americans are so.

Then your view of what is obese and what is not is different than those making the claims.

Medically, anyone with a BMI (Body Mass Index) over 30 is considered obese. By that definition, the 50% mark seems a tad low.

Score: 0

|

Agreed 1000%

U.S. citizens are just about the worst (if not the worst) when it comes to obesity.

Score: 0

|

So I can have my fat-causing food...And my music to... Its all one big plot against Big Music lol. A perfect place for idiots to use a Wi-Fi connection without checking the security.

Lets say: 1000000 People eat at a Mc Donalds everyday (when they all get this Wi-Fi), 5/10 people check their E-mail why they are there.

And 4 out of those 5 people do not know anything about computers and public use... Its one massive place to steal information and passwords.

Smart move Big Mc.

Score: 0

|

How about, give me enough dam ketchup for my fries for once, and ill go sit at that table with my Limewire. Don't you love to see me smile? :D

......

"Share a file /
Give a rodent high blood pressure"

Score: 0

|

...

PC_Fool (aka John Karr)
wrote:

"I'd like two doubles"

...

The PC Rat responds:

You little pedophile ! Perverts can't have
"doubles".

You only get one Catholic school girl at a
time !

...

The Computer Rodent

...

Score: 0

|

Go away.

Score: 0

|

awwww the PC Tw@t lost his name, or maybe forgot got his password to login ? Who knows and who cares.

Go away fool !

Score: 0

|

a lot of pc users are obese, as in the hilarious new episode of South Park about Worlds of Warcraft...you shouldn't make it so much more tempting for them to get more disgusting...

:D
filet-o-fish please, hold the tartar sauce

Score: 0

|

Me,
"I'd like two doubles, a fry, and a large coke."

McD,
"Would you like some Britney with that?"

Me,
*peeling tires and tail-lights*

Sorry, just lost my appetite.

Score: 0

|

Erm, Britney is to music as McD is to food...

Score: 0

|

and thas is precisely why both crap will be put together ....

Score: 0

|

Yes agreed. The s***ty scum of music...Perfect comparison.

Score: 0

|

Microsoft's Ray Ozzie: 'Nobody's going to be 100% open'

The mobile apps ecosystems of the world may converge over time, led by apps being ported over across platforms, according to the Chief Software Architect.

Will Firefox beat IE9 to Direct2D rendering?

Just days after Microsoft executives gave conference attendees a peek at a new rendering technology, a Mozilla contributor revealed he's working on the same thing.

Where there's smoke: Apple warranty stance raises troubling questions

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Smoking can be dangerous not only for your lungs, it appears, but for your Apple hardware warranty.

AOL's decision to rebrand as Aol. takes a bad brand and makes it worse

The idea behind the social Web is to crowd source before bringing out something new. But not at AOL, which new logo debuted with a cry of "fail!" across the blogosphere and Twittersphere today.

Microsoft 'worked with Apple' for Silverlight on iPhone, says Goldfarb

By not making such a big deal out of trying to stream video to the iPhone, Microsoft got a big deal out of it, revealed the Silverlight product manager.

Clicker.com cuts through the Web video chaos

In a world where homemade video and Hollywood movies travel the same pipeline, it's good to have a real search engine to cut through the clutter.

A case study in improving software: What Office 2010 can learn from Notion 3

A music composition product gambles with a complete overhaul, in an effort to make headway against two well-known competitors in a tough market.

Kindle 2 update adds battery life, native PDF reader

Amazon has pushed out an update to the Kindle 2 e-reader that lengthens battery life and adds a native PDF viewer.

Safari on iPhone gets competition from a $1 browser app

Apple likes to say it gives iPhone users a full browsing experience, but a new competitor tries to incorporate more desktop browser features.

Action Replay maker sues Microsoft for Xbox 360 'predatory technological barriers'

Third-party video game accessory maker Datel has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft over the Xbox 360's recent Dashboard update.

Microsoft's Bob Muglia and Ray Ozzie on Silverlight vs. standards

Bob Muglia: "We're trying to provide people with an environment that has capabilities that you just simply can't do today in the standards-based world."